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At the time, the term "green energy" did not exist, and not many people were thinking about it.

"He's quite a mechanical genius for the time," said Joe Grainger, executive director of the Harden Foundation, which paid for the restoration of the wind engine. "It's really a museum piece, 122 years old."

McKinnon was inspired to build an unusual double-header design that featured two 30-foot wind wheels. It turned into a masterpiece of Victorian engineering.

"It was wind power before anyone came up with the term 'green,'” Grainger said. "It would create wind energy and it would drive up shaft down the building. It would grind wheels for barley and wheat."

Harden helped pioneer modern growing, harvesting, and marketing techniques for lettuce, carrots, and cauliflower as these crops gained dominance in the Salinas Valley.

The mill stopped operating around World War I, and remained idle until the Harden Foundation decided to restore it in 2003. The windmill's rebirth delighted windmill enthusiasts around the world.

"There's a group called the Society for The Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM), and their national convention is on the West Coast next year. One stop will be to see us,” Grainger said. “We're high on their list of things to do."

And the windmill has also been in the movies. Lucasfilm came out to Salinas to record the sound of the wheels for the movie, "War Horse," and the History Channel filmed a mini-documentary on the restoration of this last-of-its-kind windmill.

The Challenge Double Header Wind Engine is the last surviving wind engine of its kind. While the windmill is not opened for public tours, the Harden Foundation offers tours by special request. The foundation also has a live wind web cam.